: : : : And a quote...
:
: : : The best joke I did with Eccles [A clueless character from The Goon Show.
TU] was he was in class, they were trying to teach the Theory of Relativity to
this idiot. "Now look, Eccles, jump up in the air. You see what happened then?
You had to come back down to earth again." "Yeah, I had to come back down to earth."
"Yes, why?" "Well, I live there!"

: : : Yes, a
sad day. Genius is a rather over-used appellation these days, but Spike was truly
a comic genius. I never met him but sometimes when people who have been influential
my life die I realise just what a big hole they leave behind. I feel that today
about Spike - bless him.

: : Wasn't it Spike that had that wonderful moment
in Monty Python's Life of Brian where he played a loony heretic that kept saying
"Jehova, Jehova" while dancing around in the dust? Great moments. The Goon Show
is timeless.

: Yes. The Pythons made the film in Tunisia and wrote a cameo for
their hero Spike, who happenned to be on holiday there. The film was financed
by George Harrison, another recent sad loss.

I'm moved to write a few lines
of verse in honour of Spike who peopled my childhood and adolescence with a whole
army of crazy people with whom I identified absolutely.

Spike
With
Spike now dead
It's all been said
There's nothing more to see
The
mould is broke, no one to poke
The pompous eulogy.

In the words of the immortal
bard "Goodnight sweet prince and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"